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Since I got it last Tuesday I have not folded it away yet because I like seeing it and because I have to do some unforeseen repairs on some rips on the mylar.

Once I get to go to fly it and have to put it in my bag and in the trunk of my car, I will need to fold it and place it in its sleve.

So I was wondering whether I only take off LS & US and fold it like that, or whether I have to loosen the tension on the LE by loosening the loops at the tips.I never do this with my other kites because they have straight LE's.But since the Illusion has curved LE's I was wondering whether this was necessary...

Not that I "would love to do it" because it took me a good while and a good deal of effort to get the two loops in the tip knocks!!! So if I can spare me having to do that every time I would be more than happy.

[...] So I was wondering whether I only take off LS & US and fold it like that, or whether I have to loosen the tension on the LE by loosening the loops at the tips.I never do this with my other kites because they have straight LE's.But since the Illusion has curved LE's I was wondering whether this was necessary...

Of course for all kites with curved Leading Edges.

If you don't loose the loops at the tips, your Illusion will not fits in it's bag...

[...] So I was wondering whether I only take off LS & US and fold it like that, or whether I have to loosen the tension on the LE by loosening the loops at the tips.I never do this with my other kites because they have straight LE's.But since the Illusion has curved LE's I was wondering whether this was necessary...

Of course for all kites with curved Leading Edges.

If you don't loose the loops at the tips, your Illusion will not fits in it's bag...

OK so the question now is. Which is the best and easiest way of doing this because it really took me a good amount of time and I was afraid I would break the flaps of the knock at the tip...

There are many flyers I know who never untensioned their leading edges.......and those kites live to this day.....Really comes down to whether or not you are bothered by the tips sticking out of the bag a bit......

There used to be a video on how to hookup and release the loops on those kites......but I know that we used to change the loops out and put on a line that had a loop on one end.....hook the loop on the nock and then run the line through the tab and back up and over the nock.....then pull it tight and do a series of half hatches around the line and rod to hold the tension......Less chance of breaking the nock this way too....

There are many flyers I know who never untensioned their leading edges.......and those kites live to this day.....

But that's not possible with kites like the Prism Illusion with curved leading edges...

Impossible to put it in it's sleeve if you don't untension the leading edge before !

Quote

There used to be a video on how to hookup and release the loops on those kites......but I know that we used to change the loops out and put on a line that had a loop on one end.....hook the loop on the nock and then run the line through the tab and back up and over the nock.....then pull it tight and do a series of half hatches around the line and rod to hold the tension......Less chance of breaking the nock this way too....

Yes but by this way, you're never sure that the tension is equal on both Leading Edges.

There are many flyers I know who never untensioned their leading edges.......and those kites live to this day.....

But that's not possible with kites like the Prism Illusion with curved leading edges...

Impossible to put it in it's sleeve if you don't untension the leading edge before !

Quote

There used to be a video on how to hookup and release the loops on those kites......but I know that we used to change the loops out and put on a line that had a loop on one end.....hook the loop on the nock and then run the line through the tab and back up and over the nock.....then pull it tight and do a series of half hatches around the line and rod to hold the tension......Less chance of breaking the nock this way too....

Yes but by this way, you're never sure that the tension is equal on both Leading Edges.

That's not entirely true. It depends on which sleeve you have for your Illusion. I have 3 Illusions and one I2K. 2 of the Illusions have the tight sleeves that the kites wouldn't fit, but 2 of them have sleeves that have enough room to leave the tips tensioned. I de-tension the wingtips of all my curved LE kites only because of the long periods of storage between flights. All of mine have wingtip lashings that you have to tie & untie each time. I have left the tips tensioned if I was going to fly the kite soon, but I don't fly those kites very much anymore.

Ive always thought scrunching,crushing,forcing,folding my sand encrusted salt wind soaked sails into its storage hole cant be good for its personal health and then you are meant to scrunch it even tighter by zipping up the sleeve case and whilst doing so avoid getting it caught in the zipper,its horrible,let alone pulling it out and it gets caught some place inside.

Ive always thought scrunching,crushing,forcing,folding my sand encrusted salt wind soaked sails into its storage hole cant be good for its personal health and then you are meant to scrunch it even tighter by zipping up the sleeve case and whilst doing so avoid getting it caught in the zipper,its horrible,let alone pulling it out and it gets caught some place inside.

Personally, I loosely roll up the sail around itself,not around the trio of spars (2 leading edges and the spine).

Put the spine and 2 leading edges next to each other,the sail should then hang in 2 loose curves.Roll the curves loosely around themselves.Place in bag, then shake the bag to inflate the sail within the bag.

And it does fit in the sleve without detensioning the sail.Moreover, it only has double loops of the line that is sewn to the tip of the sail and therefore I cannot undo them...So I can neither do the tensioning as in the Zeph manual that JimB posted, or put any special loops...So, for the time being I will leave them tensioned, especially because it seems that for a long time this kite has been folded in half (the LE's) and I want the material to lose the creases generated in the middle of the sails.

That is a great photo and also of a very good looker! Ive been staring at it for i dont know how long and my imagination ran wild,Area 51,Dallas Cowboys,Soccer? andeven night flying under those massive lights? PS:The kite is a very good looker!

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